


My experiences as a Northwestern University Public Interest Program fellow at Cabrini Connections & Tutor/Mentor Connection, a bipartite Chicago NGO dedicated to helping connect inner city youth with adults who will act as tutors, mentors, coaches, advocates and friends in long-term, structured programs.
Gregory Hatchett, a Junior at Rauner College Prep, has been with Cabrini Connections since the 7th grade. He’s currently paired up with longtime volunteer Mike Jozwik. Gregory is certain that he wants to go to college after he graduates and even knows where: Mississippi State University. He is very excited at the prospect of attending a historically black college, and not only because he won’t have to deal with the Chicago winters anymore! He’s learned a lot about the University from his cousin who is currently a student there and knows that it will be a great place to prepare for his two potential career paths: graphic design or law (at this point he’s undecided). Gregory has loved to draw for as long as he can remember and continues to fill notebook after notebook with his signature mix of graffiti and Japanese anime stylings. He’s been actively involved with the art club over the past few years, which has helped him to hone his craft outside of the countless hours he spends on his own working on his art. In fact his artwork has graced the walls of numerous Chicago-area galleries through his participation in our Annual Cabrini Connections Art and Film Festival. Eventually, he hopes to use his talents to make his own series of comic books, inspired by some of his favorites such as classic DC comics such as spiderman and superman.
On the other hand, if Gregory decides to commit himself to studying law, he hopes to eventually be able to help people coming from low-income neighborhoods like Cabrini Green navigate the IRS’ complex webs of tax code. He realizes that these individuals often don’t have the resources to hire accountants to help them identify the various tax breaks and loopholes that that may qualify for and that consequently, these individuals often are shouldered with unfair tax burdens. He is also considering injury law because he has experienced firsthand the need for lawyers in low-income communities to help people with injuries and disabilities fight for their rights to fair compensation and not be intimidated, like his father was, into working while injured. Cabrini Connections salutes Gregory and his desire to help others! Hopefully his desires will become a reality and we can stay in contact throughout his college years and as he enters the working world!
This week we’d like to bring one of our “behind the scenes” volunteers to the fore, and give her the recognition she deserves for all her hard work and commitment to our program. In her 5 years volunteering at Cabrini Connections, Courtland Madock has mentored 3 students, including Diara Fleming, who will be graduating from Northern Illinois University this year with a degree in Family and Child Nutrition Services and aspirations to attend nursing school in the fall. After working together at Cabrini Connections during Diara’s Junior year, they developed a strong enough mentoring relationship so that when Diara couldn’t attend the program her senior year because she got a job working for Cabrini Green Tutoring Program, they still stayed connected and were able to work together to guarantee Diara’s admission to college. Courtland describes her relationship with Diara as “super close, she’s like family”. Even today, they still talk a half dozen or so times a week!
Courtland is no stranger to reaching out to others in need, in fact she grew up surrounded by foster children in her own house growing up. During her college years at the University of Iowa she mentored 3 kids through Big Brothers Big Sisters. However, these days her biggest contribution to our youth is the role she plays as the coordinator of our Annual Year-End Dinner. She started helping to organize the event 5 years ago and has been the primary coordinator for the last 3. For Courtland the year-end dinner is one of the highlights of her year. In her view it’s a great event because it “brings a very unique group together who wouldn’t otherwise come together”. She’s always happy to see the way students, volunteers, staff, donors, family and friends can mingle at the year-end dinner, connected by their participation in Cabrini Connections. Unlike some of our other events, Courtland prides herself on the fact that the focus is on the kids, not wooing corporate sponsors or big donors. Despite this, last year’s event managed to raise $13,000 for our program, something she’s working hard to repeat this year! We agree with Courtland when she says that the event is getting better and better each year and that this is in large part due to the fact that she gains more and more knowledge and expertise each year, so that she is able to focus on the little things that make the event great rather than worrying about basics such as getting food or searching for a suitable space to hold the event. Additionally, due to the marketing savvy she’s gained at her job managing product strategy for US Cellular and the Kellogg MBA coursework that fills her nights, Courtland clearly has what it takes to pull off a big event like our Year-End Dinner. We’re so happy that she’s taken such a leadership role and has been able to put her unique talents to use. Now come see all her hard work in person by attending our Year-End Dinner, which will take place from 5:30-8 on June 4th at 1111 N Wells. See you there!
I kick things off by talking about a bit of our history which can be found on the www.cabriniconnections.net website if you click on the "about us" tab on the left side of the page.
A detailed organizational history can be found here. I continue on to discuss our strategy for making a life-changing difference in the lives of youth living all across the city and how that manifests itself at both a local and a global level, making use of some graphics found on our www.tutormentorexchange.net site, which is an information hub that helps build a convergence of ideas and strategies, resulting in constantly improving tutor/mentor programs being available to more youth in high-poverty neighborhoods.This pdf essay explains the logic of the Tutor/Mentor Connection.
Next, former PIP fellow and Tutor/Mentor Connection Coordinator, Nicole White discusses our four-part strategy for accomplishing this mission.1) Collect knowledge from key stakeholders about volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs: how programs succeed, where programs are located, and where more programs and resources are needed.
2) Aggressively share this knowledge through marketing and public awareness campaigns, capitalizing on the Internet as a chief vehicle of communication.
3) Strengthen involvement of community and industry leaders to increase essential resources to tutor/mentor programs.
4) Facilitate understanding and collaboration among stakeholders to develop the long-term, integrated actions needed to help youths move from birth in poverty to a job or career by age 25.
Mike Trakan explains our innovative use of GIS mapping: http://www.tutormentorprogramlocator.net/
Mike's Mapping for Justice Blog: http://mappingforjustice.blogspot.com/
I discuss our utilization of "social media" and how we create evangelists for our cause:
Nicole’s Tutor/Mentor Connection blog
Dan Bassill’s Tutor/Mentor Leadership blog
EL Da’Sheon’s Cabrini Connections blog
Vjeko's eLearning and Technology blog
Engaging Northwestern Students via: http://nututormentor.ning.com/
Sharing tutoring/mentoring leadership strategies via: http://tutormentorconnection.ning.com/
http://www.classroom20.com/profile/tutormentor/
http://www.socialedge.org/ (just search “tutor mentor”)